Hello Again Housewarming
by Doctor WTF
Summary: She doesn't recognize the number, but in her line of work that isn't so surprising. But who is the voice on the other side of the line and why does he want her to buy a house for someone called the Ponds?


**AN: Just a little one-shot I've been thinking about since the Doctor gave Amy and Rory their house. After all, the Doctor isn't the sort who would have the patience to go house shopping so who could he have found to help him with that purchase? Enjoy and feedback is always appreciated even if it's to tell me that this story was a terrible idea!**

* * *

><p>"Martha?" The voice was scratched and faded over the line.<p>

She hadn't recognized the number, but considering her line of work that wasn't really all that surprising. Pressing the phone more tightly to her ear she covers her other one and listens carefully to the static filled voice. "Who is this?"

"Martha Jones?"

"Doctor Martha Smith actually," she says in correction. She and Mickey have been married for almost two years now and yet people are still calling her by her maiden name. It's beginning to annoy her.

"Of course, that's right," the voice says. "I keep forgetting how that goes. What with Amy and Rory Pond and all I keep getting it mixed up and, well." There's a long moment of silence. "How are you Martha?"

She has the strangest feeling that she's supposed to know the owner of the voice speaking to her. A strange tingling in her spine that seems to be surprised that she ever could have forgotten it. But in her line of work she meets so many people and not all of them are safe enough to divulge personal information to. "Who is this?" she asks again.

"I need your help," the voice says again, seemingly uninterested in her question. "Time's a factor, well, it isn't really, but I need it before their honeymoon is supposed to be over so I suppose that does make it important. Time is a factor, Martha. Can you help me?"

"Who-" Martha starts to ask for a third time but the line goes dead before she can finish her sentence. She stares at her phone in annoyance.

"Who was that?" Mickey asks from across the kitchen table.

"I haven't the slightest clue," Martha says in reply.

Later, when she's up in her office, she inputs the number that called her into a tracking program and is puzzled and annoyed when the number comes back as non-existent.

* * *

><p>"Still doing freelance work?" the voice asks when he calls again.<p>

A chill runs down Martha's spine. Who is this person who keeps calling her? How do they know her? "Listen," she says shortly. "I don't know who you are, but-"

"Sorry about before," the voice carries on as if she hasn't said a word. "I was circling a supermassive black hole and looking for the manual when we got cut off. Is the connection better this time? I'm on the Moon at the moment. It's 1969 of course, but I figured the connection would be better in the same solar system."

And as suddenly as the fear was there it's gone and there's hope springing up through her chest. "Doctor? Is that you?"

"Of course it's me," the voice says, soft and slightly annoyed. "Who else would be on the moon in 1969 calling you?"

"What are you doing in 1969?" she asks, smiling so widely her cheeks hurt. She's never expected to hear from the Doctor again. Never expected to see him. Ever since she saw him last with Mickey and seen the grim, sad look on his face she's thought of him as gone forever.

"Watching the moon landing from the other side," the Doctor says cheerfully. "Bit tricky that, considering I have to avoid myself and you and myself and the Ponds and River and River and myself. But Amy insisted and well, I owe her this much."

"Your voice is different."

"Didn't I mention it? I've regenerated!" the Doctor's voice is chipper. "I have hair this time, Martha! And a bow tie, which is cool. Still not ginger though. Sad, that."

There are tears in her eyes now and she's wiping them away and trying not to sniff too loudly while she's on the phone. "Doctor, I've missed you."

"Oh, don't get sappy on me, Doctor Martha Smith. You've been far too busy to spend a thought on an old, foolish man."

"Never too busy for that," Martha says, and she means it.

The Doctor goes silent for so long she worries that she's lost the connection again. "Martha," he says finally, voice full of emotion. "I need your help."

"Anything," Martha says. She straightens up in her seat and reaches over for a pen and pad of paper. "If I can do it for you, I will."

"Thank you Martha. You see, the thing is, I need a house."

"A house?"

And before he can say another word the phone line goes dead again. Martha blinks, puzzled. Why would the Doctor need a house?

* * *

><p>The next time he calls it's three in the morning and the ringing tears her from a sound sleep. "Hello?" she mutters sleepily into her mobile.<p>

"Something nice," the Doctor's voice says, voice chipper over the line. "Nice neighborhood, nice house, blue if you can find it, good place for raising a family."

"Doctor?" Martha yawns loudly. "Is that you?"

"Of course it's me! Now I hope you're taking notes because I'm also going to need a car. That's what a need, a house and a car!"

Martha fumbles around her end table until she finds a pencil and scrap of paper. "Do you even know how to drive?" she asks sleepily.

"It's not for me. It needs to be a Jaguar. 1967 kind. Blue, of course."

"Doctor what is this all about? You don't call me for years and then you suddenly need a house and a car. Is something going on? Are you hiding out again?" She clutches her phone tighter to her ear, suddenly brought back to her time at boarding school with the Doctor. Is he safe, she wonders. Is he being hunted again?

"Changed my mind. The car needs to be red. Hmm, but am I really the sort of fellow that would give a red car? Blue would be cooler. Ignore me, make the car blue."

A flash of annoyance runs through her. "So what does that make me? Some sort of personal delivery service for you?"

There's another long moment of silence. "I've failed them, Martha."

"Who?"

A long drawn out sigh that's almost a sob. "The Ponds. Amy and Rory. They're traveling with me for now."

Despite herself she can feel her heart breaking for the sad man in the box on the other side of the phone. "What happened?" she asks softly, sitting up more. Besides her Mickey moans in annoyance and reaches out for her in his sleep but she carefully pulls away so she doesn't end up waking him.

"I lost their daughter."

For a moment she can't speak. "You what?" she finally says, her mouth dry.

"I lost Melody. Their daughter. They never asked me for anything but to find her, but I couldn't do it. I lost her, Martha. Their first child. I put them in danger. I got Amy kidnapped and they took her daughter and I… I couldn't get her back."

Swinging her feet to the floor, Martha stands and quietly pads out of the room and down the hall to her office. "I'm sorry," she says. It's the only thing she can think of to say.

"Don't be," the Doctor sighs softly. "It all turns out alright in the end. But… They never get to raise her in the end. Never get to see any of her firsts. Her first words, her first steps. It was stolen from them, Martha and I can't get it back for them." Martha realizes with horror that the Doctor is actually crying now. His voice is cracking and shaking as he tries to hold back the sobs. "Rory didn't even get to hold her," he cries. "Not really. It was the Flesh duplicate, not Melody he held. He never says it but I can see it in his eyes sometimes when he looks at me. He never got to hold his baby and a part of him blames me for that."

"What can I do to help?" Martha asks, sitting down at her desk. She opens up her laptop with a snap and brings up her address book ready to move the world for the Doctor if she needs to.

"I'm going away for awhile," the Doctor says after a moment. His voice is more composed now, the tears fading from it. "Where I'm going I can't bring anyone with me and, well, I still owe them their wedding gift."

"I can make that happen," Martha says firmly. Her fingers dance over her keyboard, pulling up her contacts with UNIT and typing up an e-mail to Jack. "So what was it that you needed again? One house and one car both blue?"

"Yes. Wait no, no. Make the car red. Spartan red." Another long moment of silence. "Thank you, Martha."

"It's only fair, Doctor," Martha says firmly. She's searching house listings staring at picture after picture of houses and slowly coming to the realization that she's going to have to paint the house she buys blue. "You've saved the world so many times it's only fair that I can save you the trouble this time. Now, where should this house be located?"

"Somewhere in the city," the Doctor says. "Amy doesn't want to be stuck in the country. Oh! But not too city! Rory hates the city. And can it be close to a hospital? Rory likes to bike to work."

"Found yourself another Doctor then?" Martha teases.

"Nurse, actually," the Doctor says and Martha can tell that he's smiling again. "Now, furniture! We're going to need it. Oh, and money I suppose. Always am forgetting about money. UNIT was supposed to be paying me a salary all of that time I worked with them. Do you think there is going to be enough for all this in it?"

Martha smiles. When she still worked for UNIT she's heard of the legendary size of the Doctor's bank account and the unwavering fear from higher ups that one day he'd return to claim it. A house and a car shouldn't put much of a dent in it. "I'll take care of it," she says firmly. "Now, what year of car did you need again?"

"A Jaguar, 1967. And now that I think about it, it really should be blue."

* * *

><p>"This," Jack says, tenderly shutting the car door behind him, "is a damn fine car."<p>

"It's red," Martha sighs. "The last time I talked to him, the Doctor was set on blue again."

"That paint is original, missy," Jack scolds, wagging his finger at her. "The Doctor is just going to have to settle on red this one time."

They pause, staring crossly at each other before each breaking out into grins. Jack hugs her tightly, picking her up and off the ground as she laughs. "God, it's good seeing you again, Martha," Jack smiles. "How's Mickey treating you?"

"Fine," Martha says. "He's inside helping the crew finish up in the guest bedroom."

Jack runs his eyes over the outside of the house and smiles widely. "Powder blue?" he asks teasingly. "I wonder who this house could be for?"

"I'm having the door painted TARDIS blue," Martha explains, gesturing for him to follow. "I thought about having the entire house done in that color, but TARDIS blue over the entire house? The neighbors would have gone ballistic. You would not believe the strings I had to pull to get even get it painted _this_ color."

She gives him a tour of the homes, lingering with him in the garden as she points out where she's going to put the concrete slab for the TARDIS and in the bedroom where Jack hovers over the TV they're mounting on the wall. "I've never understood the appeal," Jack confesses to her as he stares at the massive screen. "But that's practically big enough to project films onto."

"UNIT's sparing no expense," Martha explains as they go back downstairs. "I think they want everything here to be perfect so the Doctor doesn't decide to tap into his salary money again. They paid him pretty well in the 70s, which he never touched, and his account has been building a lot of interest over the years."

Jack frowns as he flops down onto the couch. "In a way it's almost not fair," he says softly. "A house and a car for these ones, a lottery win for Donna… What did we ever get from the Doctor?"

Martha thinks about her family and the Year That Never Was. She thinks about the nightmares she still wakes up from and the sleepless nights in Mickey's arms. She thinks of Jack, eternally young and un-aging and the Face of Bo he may or may not become. Then she thinks of the Doctor's voice and the tears she knows he shed and the Ponds she hasn't met and her heart clenches. She thinks of the daughter they never got to raise and her hand rests on her flat belly and she's grossly thankful, so thankful, that it happened to them and not her. House be damned, she has something better.

Jack's staring at her, smiling a sweet smile. "Oh Martha," he says leaning forward. "Congratulations."

She smiles back at him and wipes away the tears, still thankful and hating herself for the joy she feels. "Don't you dare say a word," she says in mock threat. "I haven't had the chance to tell Mickey yet."

"Tell me what?" Mickey asks entering the room.

Jack smiles and covers for her, leaping to his feet. "Tell you how much I've missed you, Mickey!" he coos and kisses her husband right on the lips.

Mickey flounders and rolls his eyes, pushing Jack away. She laughs and covers her mouth. Hand still covering her belly, she stands and joins them.

* * *

><p>Three months later and she's knocking on the door, a cake in her hands. She's been watching the house for weeks, watching and waiting for the day when its occupants would appear. Her hand grazes her stomach as she waits, feeling a thrill go through her body at the lump that's just beginning to show. Mickey had been thrilled when she told him, jumping up instantly to turn their office into a baby's room even when she laughed at him and told him they still had months to go before they had to worry about that.<p>

He's talking about stopping the freelance work and seeing if UNIT would take him in since it would be safer for their family if he's in the middle of an organization than by himself. She's still trying to knock that idea out of his head, she knows how he'd hate working for UNIT, but he wants the security of a steady paycheck and the safety that UNIT would provide for their baby. She loves the way he says 'their baby.' She loves the way he looks at her as he says it and the way he kisses her with those words still on his lips. She hasn't told him yet, but after this she has an appointment with UNIT about bringing her back into the fold. After all, Mickey isn't the only Smith that can get a job with them and this way she can bring in the security and safety while he can keep his freedom. Besides, she's started to miss being a medical Doctor.

The door opens as she's thinking to reveal a brown haired man with a nose too large for his face. He smiles at her softly, a strange sort of confidence ingrained into his very being and Martha smiles, recognizing a fellow companion of the Doctor. "Can I help you?" he asks politely.

"Martha Smith," she says reaching out to shake his hand. "I live in the neighborhood and just wanted to pop by and say hi." He takes the cake when she offers it and kindly invites her in and have a cuppa. She refuses this time, but when she's about to leave she takes Rory's hand again and looks him straight in the eyes. "I think we're going to become great friends," she says and Rory smiles at her. He believes it.


End file.
